Electronic devices such as computers and mobile devices are becoming increasingly integrated into everyday life. Mobile devices are often provisioned with applications, such as email, that are becoming increasingly useful. Many people use their mobile devices as one of their primary means of communication.
The capabilities of mobile devices are not limited to applications such as email. Other applications are becoming more common. Some mobile devices, for example, have mapping applications. With advances in GPS technologies, travel can made easier through the use of digital maps that are presented by the mapping applications. However, the digital maps are often limited to existing roadways and are often unable to dynamically adapt to changing roadway conditions. More specifically, the ability of conventional mapping applications to provide directions or identify traversable paths is tied to existing roadways. Although mapping applications may be able to identify the location of a user using GPS technologies, they are unable to provide mapping capabilities that do not follow existing roads.
For example, consider a situation where a person is walking in a park. When asked for directions to the other side of the park, conventional mapping technologies are likely to provide directions that follow the roads. In other words, these mapping technologies provide directions that are based on existing roadways. Following directions based on existing roadways would likely lead the person around the outskirts of the park along the roads rather than identify a traversable path through the park.
While some mapping applications may augment their information with satellite imagery, satellite imagery does not identify traversable paths and directions are still based on existing roadways. In addition, it is often difficult for a user to distinguish a traversable path in satellite imagery because satellite imagery is often out of date and at insufficient resolutions. Also, it is difficult for a user to distinguish between shadows, impassable water features, elevation changes, and the like in satellite imagery. In effect, there are many areas, such as parks and public walkways that are poorly mapped. Trying to traverse these areas using conventional mapping applications is often unreliable and frustrating.